Wednesday, February 23, 2011

The Other Side of the Coin

The second wine in the shipment discussed in the post below from Michel-Schlumberger was the 2008 vintage of La Brume chardonnay. The same plan was in effect here - taste one of the three bottles when it arrives and possibly order more.

We fixed a Dungeness crab risotto to go with this wine. The crab meat was removed from the crab and a light stock or nage made with the shells and a chopped shallot. That was the stock used to make the risotto, which was just rice, a pinch of saffron, a little wine and the stock. Just as it was done the meat from the crab was stirred into the rice.

Over the last several years every wine I've had from Michel Schlumberger has been very good to excellent. The previous two vintages of La Brume chardonnay have impressed me. Not so much here. This is my least favorite wine from this estate.

The nose was a little musty but that quickly blew away to some grapey aromas and a tiny bit of melon. Full bodied and lush in the mouth, the wine had some melon character and some off apple flavors. Neither of those flavors was strong. The finish left a bitter impression that I didn't care for. In the end that finish reminded me of skin from a not so perfect apple. The acid seemed about right but the crab was rich and a wine with more acid would probably have been better here.

Putting more of a chill on this wine might be a better idea. I'm sure that others will like this wine more than I. Perhaps I might even mark some of this down to bottle shock from its long journey from California,though that wasn't a problem with the merlot. We'll let my second bottle rest for a month or two and try it again.